five times martha costello kissed caroline warwick
by phantomlistener
Summary: (...and one time it really wasn't necessary). Kissing Caroline was intoxicating, and she didn't seem able to stop. Set late in season two; Martha/Caroline.


_i_

"Caroline, come and look at this for a minute, would you?"

Crossing the room, Caroline dropped the folders she was carrying on the end of the desk and leaned over Martha's shoulder, one hand steadying herself along the back of her chair. "Is that-"

"My client, on CCTV at the exact time the prosecution claims he was battering a 73-year-old man to death." She turned, triumphant. "Won't even be half a day in court tomorrow."

"You can come and help me with my mountain of phone transcripts, then," Caroline said, amused, seemingly unconcerned by the mere inches of space that separated them. "God knows I could use an extra pair of eyes, a good fifty percent of it seems to be phone sex." A smile teased at the edge of her mouth. "And not very good, at that."

"You'd know," Martha shot back.

"Naturally." Smirking, she stepped away, the hand on the chair brushing casually against Martha's shoulder as she moved. "You wouldn't?"

"Oh, I think I'd have a fairly good idea."

"That _is_ good to hear."

Martha grinned despite herself, and as Caroline went to gather up her folders, she reached out and grabbed her hand. "Wait."

Caroline paused, turned, looked between their hands and Martha's face, turned up towards her from where she sat. "Yes?" she said, amusement warring with curiosity.

Martha frowned. "When we first met..." She met Caroline's gaze head-on, visibly thinking through her subconscious actions.

"I think I remember the occasion..."

Standing, Martha pulled her closer by the hand until they were barely inches apart. "You," she said, hesitating, "you tried to hit on me."

A moment of silence, broken only by Caroline's tentative response: "Who wouldn't?".

"So..."

Caroline raised an eyebrow in an elegant gesture of confusion. "So what?"

The only warnings were Martha's embarassed laugh, her eyes flicking down to Caroline's mouth, and the reflexive tightening of her fingers, and Caroline barely had time to process them before soft, hesitant lips were pressing all too briefly against hers.

"That," Martha said, pulling away just a fraction with an entirely too pleased expression as Caroline automatically moved in closer.

"Been thinking about that for a while, hmmm?"

Martha shrugged, a small knowing smile forming with lightning speed on her lips. "A while."

"You could have said."

"I think I just did." She slid her hand away, expression enigmatic, and grabbed her bag from the desk. "Court," she said, by way of explanation. "See you tomorrow."

Caroline nodded, trying desperately to concentrate on gathering her files, but her eyes automatically followed Martha as she left the room without a backward glance. She sighed, smiled wryly to herself. "Tomorrow."

_ii_

Martha closed the final folder of evidence with a relieved sigh and leaned back in her chair, glancing despairingly at the clock, which read a steady and depressing half past eleven. In one decisive move she shoved the relevant files into her handbag and stood, stretching out tired arms above her head before pulling on her jacket and heading for the door. She had just reached Caroline's office when a noise caught her attention, half-laughter half-sob; she hesitated, fingers curling slowly around the doorhandle, then pushed it carefully open.

"No," came the order from inside; as she entered, Caroline looked up from behind her desk, wide-eyed and panicked, and wiped desperately at tears that refused to be brushed away. "Fuck off, Martha."

It took mere seconds to cross the room and kneel beside her, one hand on her knee. "What happened?"

The empty bottle of vodka hit the desk with a hollow thud, and she focused slowly on Martha's face. "I'm celebrating an anniversary," was all she said.

"An anniversary?"

She shook her head. "Doesn't matter."

"Well clearly it does, or you wouldn't be sitting here."

A soft laugh, half-desperate, and she reached out a hand to trail uncertain fingers down Martha's cheek to rest against her shoulder. For a moment, they stared at each other, and then Martha moved towards her, so close that she could feel Caroline's breath against her lips. "It'll be okay," she breathed. "Whatever it is, it'll be okay."

"Optimist," Caroline murmured, and Martha closed the gap between them, teeth grazing lips, tongues sliding together. Caroline fell into the kiss as if it could save her, one hand curling down around Martha's neck to draw her closer, and it was some time before she broke away to rest her forehead against Martha's. "Go home," she said softly. "I need to do this on my own."

"You'll be alright?" She wiped gently at the last of the tears still drying on Caroline's cheeks, pressed one final kiss against her lips.

"I always am."

_iii_

Darkness had settled over Shoe Lane, kept at bay only by the single light shining in Martha's office where Caroline sat at the spare desk, reading carefully through paragraphs of typed notes, occasionally underlining or circling relevant parts. A sound in the corridor beyond caught her attention and she looked up, jumping slightly as the door was thrown open with a little too much force and banged against the wall behind it; Martha tumbled in with a giggle. "Sorry," she said, half-laughing, and swayed on her feet where she stood, reaching out a hand to the doorframe to steady herself. "Didn't know you were still here."

"Oh my god. How much have you had to drink?"

Martha laughed, bright and happy, and bent unsteadily to take off her shoes. "Lots," she pronounced.

"And you're here instead of at home because...?"

She looked momentarily bemused, then her face cleared and she smiled, triumphant. "Files! I need files."

An amused laugh was the immediate response. "Please, tell me you know _which _files." She nodded her head towards Martha's desk, stacked high with files and folders of all sizes, and stood, rounding her desk to intercept Martha's unsteady steps.

"Of course, she said indignantly, but she ruined the illusion of competence with a helpless laugh, dropping her shoes onto the floor. Moving slightly too confidently towards her desk, she lost her balance for a moment, falling with a distinct lack of grace into Caroline's quick arms; giggling, she darted in and kissed her, sweetly at first but with increasing determination until, for a brief moment, Caroline began to respond.

Just as quickly, she pulled away.

"What?" Martha demanded. Her hand slid across Caroline's cheek and tangled in her hair, the other settling possessively at her waist.

"You're drunk," she said, fingers smoothing out the blurred colour on Martha's lips. "You have no idea what you're doing."

"I'm kissing you."

"That much was clear." She shifted back, putting some space between them. "You need water. And a taxi home."

"Don't wanna." Martha leaned in and settled into Caroline's embrace, head heavy against her shoulder, sighed out a contented breath as a gentle hand stroked up and down her arm and warm lips pressed a kiss into her hair.

Eventually, Caroline pulled away, keeping a careful hand on her arm just in case she fell again. "You find those files, I'm calling you a taxi."

She was at her desk, phone halfway to her ear, when Martha said her name. She paused, fingers hovering over the first digit of the phone number, and looked up in time to see an almost childlike smile form across Martha's face: "Thank you.".

"Don't be ridiculous." Her own smile was fond, taking any sting out of her words. "Ring me when you get home or I'll spend the whole bloody night worrying about you."

"Now who's being ridiculous." But she shook her head, frowning as the motion, combined with the alcohol in her bloodstream, dizzied her. "Alright, I will."

When the taxi arrived five minutes later, Caroline walked her down and put her in it, handing her bag and files in after her. "Ring me," she reminded her.

"So bloody demanding," Martha muttered, half under her breath.

"I heard that."

"You were supposed to." One last happy grin and Martha reached to close the door. "Don't stay too late."

"Never do," Caroline said to herself as the taxi sped away. "Never do."

_iv_

The bold slam of the door tore Caroline's attention away from the bookcase she was browsing and towards the entrance to the office. She raised an eyebrow. "Why, Miss Costello, I take it from the pleased expression on your face that court went well?"

"Bloody brilliantly." She almost bounced over to Caroline with an infectious enthusiasm. "Pub?"

She shook her head with an indulgent smile. "Unlike you, little miss I-won-my-court-case, some of us still haven't finished the day's work."

Martha held her gaze in silence for a beat, a tiny enigmatic smile playing at the corner of her mouth. "Boring." Swift as an arrow, she darted in, pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "Come anyway?"

There was a moment's pause, in which Caroline steadfastly avoided her gaze. "Martha," she said eventually, "I just need to know-"

But Martha was shaking her head, a hint of panic rising in her eyes. "No, you don't," she insisted.

"It's just that...you keep-"

"I know." Martha cut her off in the only way she could, fingers digging sharply into her waist, teeth sinking aggressively into the soft flesh of her bottom lip.

It worked, briefly, but she pulled away with a gasp. "Martha. _Martha_." She pushed her back to arm's length, deliberately not focusing on the broken smear of lipstick across the slim line of her mouth. "This is becoming something of a pattern," she said, absently brushing a lock of blonde hair behind Martha's ear. "Not that I'm complaining, and if this is nothing more than stress relief then...fine. But at least have the consideration to tell me."

Martha met her gaze, startled. "It's-" Usually so eloquent, she scrambled for the right words, frowned as they refused to come.

"I thought as much." Caroline's smile didn't reach her eyes. "You're a very dangerous woman, Martha Costello."

"No- no, wait-" But she was already to the door, moving out into the corridor beyond where there were other people, human shields against the conversation she clearly didn't want to have.

Gone.

Martha sighed in frustration.

_v_

A knock on the door roused Caroline from where she'd fallen half-asleep at the table and she groaned, stretching to counter too long spent slumped over the next day's court briefing. The clock showed almost midnight. Another knock, more insistent, came in the time it took to reach the front door and she cursed the impatient visitor under her breath.

When she opened the door, though, it was Martha, standing dimly illuminated by the light spilling out from the hallway with a determined expression on her face. "Can I come in?"

Wordlessly, Caroline stepped aside, closing the door behind her and following her through into the living room.

"You lied to me," Martha said without preamble, dropping her bag and jacket on the sofa.

"I did?"

"You said you didn't mind if it was nothing more than stress release. And then you ran away - since when do _you_ run away from things?"

Taking a moment to collect herself in the face of the sudden barrage of accusation, Caroline shrugged. "Since you seemed incapable of answering a simple question." She fiddled absently with the cuff of her blouse, twisting the button this way and that. "I was just saving myself the embarassment of having to hear your reply."

Martha stared, incredulous. "Fuck's sake, Caroline! You barely gave me a thirty seconds to answer, what did you expect? A perfectly-worded declaration of love? Bloody _poetry_?"

"Don't." She turned away. "Don't be ridiculous."

There was a brief pause, assessing, and then behind her, Martha spoke again, her voice challenging, flirtatious. "If you turned in that sort of performance in court, Miss Warwick, you'd lose in a heartbeat."

Caroline whirled around, half-furious. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"For someone who's supposedly an expert in reading people, you're really not doing very well." She reached out a hand, her expression confused as Caroline flinched away from her touch. "Are you deliberately being this...this..."

"Obtuse?" Her voice was calmer, a glimmer of a smile twisting at the corner of her lips. "Far from it. I honestly have no idea what's going on in that head of yours."

This time, when Martha reached out to take her hand, she didn't stop her, allowing the gesture with restrained hesitancy.

"I'm not asking you for anything. I just...god, you're fucking gorgeous, Caroline, and you're fierce and brilliant and-" she moved unconsciously closer- "I'm fed up of pretending I don't want you _so badly_ and I just-"

Silence held for a few seconds.

"Say something," Martha breathed. "Caroline. Say something."

"_Oh_." Caroline stared at her as if she'd been caught out, half-disbelieving. "I didn't-" And as if she'd just been released from stasis, she moved suddenly into motion, pushing back at Martha until she was right against the wall, grabbing hold of her wrists and pinning them either side of her head. "Do you have any idea how _frustrating _it's been?"

Martha smiled brilliantly, arching forwards into the warm solidity of Caroline's body and catching her lips in a demanding kiss. "I'm beginning to realise."

"You have _no idea_," she disagreed. "No idea at all." But she let Martha kiss her again and again until they were breathless and flushed, what had been a playful show of dominance suddenly attaining an edge of very real desire.

Into the charged atmosphere, Martha smiled, vicious and joyful. "Does this mean I can stay?"

"Oh god, yes. Yes." Loosening her grasp, Caroline slid her fingers between Martha's, soft skin against soft skin, and tilted her head to kiss her once more. "I think I'll have to insist."

_[vi]_

Morning dawned quiet and cold, grey light spilling into the bedroom through half-closed curtains and onto the two figures tangled together in the dishevelled bed. Caroline stirred first, automatically pulling the covers closer around them. She ran gentle fingers along the length of Martha's arm where it lay curled across her ribs. "Awake?"

"Mmmm." Martha tightened her hold with a contented hum and shifted beneath the covers, knee brushing against Caroline's thigh. "I am now."

They lay in silence for a while as the room brightened, weak sunlight falling in strips across the sheets and pillows and shining softly against the blonde of Martha's hair where it fell onto Caroline's shoulder. The muffled sound of traffic outside buzzed in low counterpoint to early morning birdsong.

"So tell me, Martha." Caroline trailed half-teasing fingers down her spine. "Have you quite got over the urge to kiss me every five minutes?"

"Never," she said sleepily, tucking herself closer to Caroline's side. "Now stop asking silly questions and go back to sleep."

"Very difficult. You're distracting." The smirk was clear even in her voice. "And naked."

Petulant, Martha raised herself on one elbow and glared. "Shut up, Caroline, I'm tired."

"You really aren't a morning person."

"_Shhhh_." She lay back down with a sigh and curled up against Caroline's warm body. "Later."

Caroline laughed, low and affectionate. "I'm taking that as a promise."

"Mmmm." Martha was already half-asleep. "You'd better."

Caroline pulled her closer, settling more comfortably against the pillows, and closed her own eyes against the invasive morning light. "Absolutely."

Within five minutes, they were both sleeping.


End file.
